Baymule
Herd Master
My dogs will drag off or eat the afterbirth. If I find it, I bury it.
So how is she doing now with the lamb?
So how is she doing now with the lamb?
Ewe won't let newborn lamb nurse
- Thread starter Rin
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #32
Still not great. She will hold still for a very short period on her own but then starts spinning again as soon as she seems to realize what he's doing.
Only now when she spins to be face to face with him, she will headbutt him if he moves like he's going to come at her teat again (basically she seems exhausted by his efforts and is acting slightly more desperate about them). Still refuses to leave his side if he's crying but he's crying a lot because she won't let him eat a decent amount of time if I don't holdher still?? Checked her teats again and milk flow seems fine. No apparent pain, just seems extremely annoyed about being touched there. He's peeing normal amounts when I see him pee. He only had the initial lil black tarry poop which stained a bit of his wool (and she hasn't tried to clean off him yet), no nice yellow poops yet, but also no diarrhea yet either.
Wondering if I'm not holding her long enough or if I'm holding her too long.
Only now when she spins to be face to face with him, she will headbutt him if he moves like he's going to come at her teat again (basically she seems exhausted by his efforts and is acting slightly more desperate about them). Still refuses to leave his side if he's crying but he's crying a lot because she won't let him eat a decent amount of time if I don't holdher still?? Checked her teats again and milk flow seems fine. No apparent pain, just seems extremely annoyed about being touched there. He's peeing normal amounts when I see him pee. He only had the initial lil black tarry poop which stained a bit of his wool (and she hasn't tried to clean off him yet), no nice yellow poops yet, but also no diarrhea yet either.
Wondering if I'm not holding her long enough or if I'm holding her too long.
Beekissed
Herd Master
I'd put her in a headgate and leave her there. She can't spin, she can't see him, she can't do anything but eat, drink, poop, pee, stand up and lie down. You can devise a quicky headgate with T posts. Don't give up and maybe check his teeth, see if any are a bit sharp and file them a bit with a nail file.
- Thread starter
- #34
Tried the headgate thing but she panicked and kept wrenching free. I'm maybe not imagining exactly what you're describing. Is there any chance you have photos or can doodle it? Google search turned up nothing helpful there.
Beekissed
Herd Master
Found a little vid of an example of one made from T posts but it doesn't say how to build it....could be you could look at it and figure it out?
Here's a commercially designed adoption head gate....
- Thread starter
- #36
VERY helpful. I was imagining something slightly different and was failing as a result. Not sure what I can use for the solid walls of it. With just the T posts it is super easy for her to pull free though.
Beekissed
Herd Master
They have skinny necks, wide jaws, so if you can squeeze the space down to allow her neck to move up and down freely, but not wide enough that she can pull her jaw through by backing up, it should do the trick. Once you get the neck spacing down right and lock her into it, you can put some kind of solid wall on either side so she can't see anything happening back there...it could even be cardboard, as long as it obstructs her view.
Beekissed
Herd Master
Got a pallet lying around handy? Pallets are great for making a quick head stall for small livestock.
- Thread starter
- #39
No pallets, they're huge business here so get snapped up. I did however try to use a wall to keep her from swinging. The problem is tposts by themselves kind of have a lilbit of give and all she had to do was twist around to pry them apart or pull straight backwards to wedge them apart and slip free. With the wall she couldn't pry it sideways and I left her head in a halter tied up to the other side of the tposts with just enough slack to lay down and stand up but not enough to back her head out from between the posts.
Came home from work tonight to find the ram feeding away. The ewe was more bothered by the situation than by his efforts and didn't seem to react at all to him. Not sure if I leave her like this three days from when I started (Letting her out on Friday) or if the 3 day estimate is just from birth so tomorrow-ish.
Came home from work tonight to find the ram feeding away. The ewe was more bothered by the situation than by his efforts and didn't seem to react at all to him. Not sure if I leave her like this three days from when I started (Letting her out on Friday) or if the 3 day estimate is just from birth so tomorrow-ish.
Baymule
Herd Master
That is good news. She is feeding him, maybe not in the most motherly way, but he is getting to nurse. The test will come when you let her loose. Maybe you could keep her tied for a day or two to transition her to caring for her lamb. If she acts like this on her second lambing, you might want to consider selling her.
I had a ewe that didn't reject her lambs, she was just disinterested. The lambs were stupid too and followed the dogs, even a chicken! She was such a lousy mother and had such bad conformation that I wouldn't even take her to auction. She and her lambs went to slaughter.
I had a ewe that didn't reject her lambs, she was just disinterested. The lambs were stupid too and followed the dogs, even a chicken! She was such a lousy mother and had such bad conformation that I wouldn't even take her to auction. She and her lambs went to slaughter.
